‘Ship of Theseus’ named best film at National film awards

1.    ‘Ship of Theseus’ named best film at National film awards

i. Anand Gandhi’s debut film Ship of Theseus was on Wednesday named the best feature film while Milkha Singh’s biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was declared the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment at the 61st National Film Awards.

ii. The best actor award was shared by Shahid actor Rajkumar Rao and Suraj Venjaramoodu for Malayalam 

film Perariyathavar while Hansal Mehta was named the best director for Shahid, again a biopic on slain lawyer-activist Shahid Azmi.

iii. Geetanjali Thapa was named the best actress for Hindi film Liar’s Dice Saurabh Shukla was declared the best supporting actor for court-room drama Jolly LLB which was also named the best Hindi film.

iv. The best supporting actress award is shared by Amruta Subhas and Aida El-Kashef for Astu (Marathi) and Ship of Theseus (English-Hindi).

v. An 11-member jury, headed by noted directed Saeed Akhtar Mirza announced the awards on Wednesday.

vi. The National Film Awards along with Dada Saheb Phalke honour, which will go to lyricist-director Gulzar this year, are likely to be given by President Pranab Mukherjee on May 3.

2.    SBI launches new scheme for fashion boutique owners

i. The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a financing scheme for women fashion boutique owners.

ii. Labelled ‘boutique financing’, the scheme is designed to offer working capital expenses as well as term loan for boutique owners.

iii. Chief General Manager of SBI (Bengal Circle) Sunil Srivastava said the bank has identified the growth potential of the segment.He said the bank would give loans at a concessional interest rate and the maximum loan to be made available would be Rs 50 lakh for a period of seven years.

iv. Owners would also get overdraft facilities, he added.

3.    CBI Sports Integrity Unit to probe betting, fixing and other fraud in sports

i. The CBI has set up a Sports Integrity Unit to check betting and fixing in sports. 

ii. Speaking at a function in New Delhi yesterday, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said that the unit is intended to investigate and inquire into matters related to sports fraud, combating malpractice in sports and coordinating with sports federations and law enforcement agencies.

iii. Mr. Sinha said the agency will also be engaging with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports so that a law to deal with corruption in sports is put in place at the earliest.